Rafael Nadal reclaims top spot over Roger Federer in ATP World Tour rankings

Rafael Nadal reclaimed top spot in the men’s ATP rankings on Monday after Swiss rival Roger Federer crashed out early in Miami to Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Nadal, who hasn’t hit a ball in anger since pulling out of the Australian Open quarter-finals in January, saw Federer take over top spot on February 18.

The Swiss veteran, however, slipped 10 points behind his Spanish rival and into second place after a second round defeat to Kokkinakis that saw the towering American leap eight places to ninth thanks to his eventual victory Sunday in the Masters 1000 event.

Isner thus equals his previous best ranking of ninth, reached in April 2012, while beaten finalist Alexander Zverev of Germany moved up one place to fourth.

South Korea’s Hyeon Chung meanwhile continued to chip away at the rankings, the 21-year-old breaking into the top 20, to 19th, for the first time in his fledgling career thanks to his quarter-final appearance in Miami.

“I wanted to play a couple of close competition matches. I played in Kooyong once. The club in Kooyong is great, but at the same time the conditions of play are completely different from here,” he explained.

“That’s my feeling. We decided to play another match. Talking with the Australian Open, yeah, they gave us the chance to play like an open practice but closer to the match for the crowd.

“We did it. It was a good practice, good feelings for both of us I think. The job was done the right way.”

HEALTHY AND COMPETITIVE

Despite his achievements in a long career, motivation for Nadal, who needs to reach the quarter-finals to be certain of retaining his world number one ranking, with Federer breathing down his neck, remains undiminished.

Not only can he clinch a 17th Grand Slam in Melbourne, but he also has the opportunity to join Roy Emerson and Rod Laver as only the third man in the Open era to win each of the four Grand Slams twice.

The only place he is yet to achieve the double is Australia.

“For me, the Australian Open always, if you are not 100 percent motivated to play this tournament, you probably you don’t love this sport,” he said.

But he knows anything can happen so early in the season, despite being the top ranked player in the world.

“Everyone starts from zero. I start from zero again,” he said.

“It’s the start of a new season, an exciting one. I hope to be healthy and competitive, and most important thing, I hope to enjoy tennis one more year.”

In Melbourne, Nadal is at his first major tournament in years without his uncle Toni, who coached him from childhood until after his US Open win last year.

Toni Nadal is now coaching at the Rafael Nadal Academy, with his nephew under the tutelage of Carlos Moya.

“In terms of professional things, I spoke to him few days ago, speaking about how the life going, how the tennis going,” he said of Toni.

“If I have something to ask, I ask him. If he have something to tell me, he call me and tell me.”